Winter Cabin Elucidation
by Mars1040
Summary: High School AU. Every puzzle has a solution, every question has an answer and every mystery has a story behind it. Companion piece to Winter Cabin Conundrum.
1. Prologue

**PSA:**  
**This fic is meant to be read with Winter Cabin Conundrum.  
Please read up to and including _Chapter 8_ to understand this chapter.**

Riku: A companion piece to Conundrum?  
Mars: Well even Higurashi has its Answer Arcs. Some things are gonna need some clarification...especially with the current part...  
Axel: Spoilers!  
Mars: Right, and before you ask: _Elucidation - explanation that makes something clear; clarification._ Also, if it wasn't clear enough, this chapter is from **Vanitas'** point of view, but the PoV's will change every chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or its characters.

Winter Cabin Elucidation  
**Prologue**

I was showing the man known as Braig to the door. He had just had a meeting with my master about using this cabin as a venue for a "leadership conference". Strange enough, it was at my master's request. I wondered exactly what he was planning, especially with this man. He had air of arrogance about him, one that I found annoying.

"So," he spoke to me in such a smug manner. "I haven't seen you before, where did you come from?"

"That is none of your concern," I informed him.

"Wow, attitude," his reply was spoken in the same manner as the question. "You might wanna work on that for when my students get here."

This man, a teacher? I refused to believe it. Then again, it is possible for him to be a public school teacher. From what I read about school, those teachers seemed to be more…lax. By the time I showed him to the door, I thought it hadn't come soon enough. I was glad to rid this man from the cabin. I went to confront my master on who he was and what he needed him for.

"Kingdom High School," he said when I returned to his room. "By sheer coincidence, some of the youths whose lives I affected attend that school, including _her_."

Xion. My early memories were all but wiped out but no matter what, I could still recall her. After all, our hearts are connected.

But I could not understand why my master wanted the other youths, surely they have some sort of vendetta against him. I inspected the list and I noted the first name on the list, the name Braig had objected to.

"Who is this Sora?" I inquired.

"He is very important to you, though I have never met him yet," he explained. "It will take some time to set up the connection."

"Connection…" I repeated.

I could not understand exactly what these 'connections' that he was talking about, only that it is very important and that it would take some time.

"But master," I began. "Surely three days is not enough time."

"We'll have to extend it using your magic," he informed me.

"But I cannot send someone else back, you know this."

"I know how your magic works Vanitas, I believe we can get Sora to help you."

"But how?"

"I must perform the ultimate sacrifice—by giving up my life."

My eyes widened. He could not have been serious.

"Most of those youths—even Braig himself—have a vendetta against me. Surely, one or more of them are more than willing to kill me, given the opportunity."

"But master, is this wise? There is always a chance for it to fail."

He ignored my comment, "You don't speak like a teenage boy, you will have to mingle with children your own age to get a firm grasp on their language. Otherwise someone will suspect that you are not what you appear to be."

Like a good servant I obeyed and I trusted my master. After all, he was the one who called me to him, he was the one who knew all that I did not know about myself. For the time being, I had to practice my language so that I sounded just like the students that would be coming here.

Axel: You sure this is an answer arc? I'm left with more questions than ever.  
Riku: Same here.  
Mars: It's meant to explain that Xehanort had the three days planned.  
Axel: And if you wanna know what that means, read Winter Cabin Conundrum!  
Mars: Which you should've done after reading the PSA at the top.


	2. Part I - Xehanort

**PSA: **  
**This fic is meant to be read with Winter Cabin Conundrum.**  
**THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR _CHAPTER 4_, SO IF YOU HAVE NOT READ UP TO THERE, DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER.**

Axel: You think anyone will listen?  
Mars: Odds are, they'll see it and turn away.  
Tidus: So why don't you update Conundrum letting the followers know this exists?  
Mars: Because Fridays are Fridays Tidus.  
Axel: So what's with the title of the chapter?  
Mars: Well it's formatted like so: Part of Conundrum - The person who's death I'm explaining.  
Axel: Right, so we're gonna see how Xehanort died the first time.  
Mars: The PoV for this chapter is from the murderer, don't know who that is? Finish Chapter 4.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts...at all...except for copies of the games.

Winter Cabin Elucidation  
**Part I – Xehanort**

Vanitas opened the door to Xehanort's room and let me in. In hindsight, I should've found it weird that he didn't follow me in the room, that he just let me in and closed the door behind me. Xehanort was standing right in front of me, expecting me to show up.

"You wanted to see me Braig?" He asked.

Yeah, I wanted to see you, you old coot.

"I was just wondering what you had in mind for Sora," I said nonchalantly, hiding my contempt for the old man.

"I need him," he replied.

For what? For more experiments? You wanna ruin his life just like you almost did for Roxas? What you've probably already done to Xion?

"You could be a little more specific than that," I baited, trying to get more information out of him.

"If you must know, I've managed to make progress on my replica program. I need a subject to sample and make a connection to, in order complete my current ones," he explained. "I'm not sure if he'll survive."

"What if he does?"

I expected more talking, but all the old man did was laugh, "He probably won't. But we all have to make sacrifices in order to make progress."

I got mad. There was no way I was about to let this geezer outright kill one of my students, especially one with as much promise as Sora had. There was a knife on the end table right next to the door. I didn't think, I took it and jammed it right in the old man's chest. Instead of groaning in pain, he just laughed, and I twisted the knife, anything to shut him up.

When he finally stopped laughing, I pushed him on the floor and I felt the weight of what I just did. To be honest, I wasn't too fussed. Sure, I just committed murder and I'd probably go to jail for this, but this is Xehanort we're talking about. He deserved to die, I did the world a favor. But for now, I had to get the blame off me. I looked at my clothes and by some stroke of luck, I didn't get any of the old man's blood on me. I looked at the knife, I had to get rid of it.

I opened the door to the room, made sure no one else was in the hallway and left. I had to pick a room to dispose the knife in. There was a music room on this floor, no one would be interested in going in here, so I tossed the knife in there. I looked at my watch, it was almost time for another workshop, I had to be there to set up. I went down to the workshop room, it was empty so I decided to set up a little early, with Xehanort being the furthest thing from my mind.

Mars: Okay, you get all that?  
Axel: No...I'm more confused than ever, what the hell is replica program?  
Mars: I might just let the readers use their imagination on that.  
Axel: So what's next? More Xehanort deaths?  
Tidus: Or we might see how Ienzo dies.  
Mars: Not until the current part in Conundrum ends.


	3. Part I - Aqua

**PSA:**  
**This fic is meant to be read with Winter Cabin Conundrum.  
Please read up to and including _Chapter 8_ to understand this chapter.  
ALSO: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS UP TO _CHAPTER 7_, SO IF YOU HAVE NOT READ UP TO THERE, DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER.**

Mars: This was requested by Flame Chimera  
Link: Wait, that review was an hour ago, I don't think it's even displayed on the site yet!  
Mars: What can I say? This was short and I work fast.  
Axel: And you were eager to post something on the site?  
Link: Maybe you should lift that Friday policy.  
Mars: Better I give them one every week or keep them starving for weeks at a time. This is from **Aqua**'s point of view.

Disclaimer: Still don't own Kingdom Hearts or its characters.

Winter Cabin Elucidation  
**Part I - Aqua**

I watched Luxord enter the staircase to return downstairs, wondering why he would even think that I would be remotely interested in him. He hung out with the drug dealers, no one in their right mind would want to associate with them, unless they didn't know or were dealing themselves. Then again, anyone who didn't know they were dealers just wanted to be like them, to hang out with them because they were popular. If they knew the reason they were so popular, they wouldn't want to be like them anymore.

It was getting cold—I was on the roof in a snowstorm after all. I decided to go down to breakfast. I started walking toward the other staircase on the roof and I was surprised to see Naminé standing there.

"Naminé, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"You know, don't you?" She inquired.

"Um…" I didn't know what to say.

It took me a moment to realize what she was talking about. The other day, I saw her doing business with Saïx, she was a dealer too. I was more disappointed than anything, Naminé seemed like a good girl, once with a promising future who wouldn't associate with those creeps. Saix probably saw me watching them and told her.

"You're going to tell, aren't you?" She said.

"Naminé," I approached her, wanting to comfort her. "You don't have to associate with them, there's better—"

"No, I have to!" She snapped, "I have to buy my way out of that place, you don't know what it's like!"

I immediately knew what she was talking about, I realized that he must live in Xehanort's foster care. It's a horrible place, they experiment on the young children and they only get worse when you become an adult. The only way out besides someone taking you in or adopting you is to buy your way out. Ventus was lucky that our master, Eraqus took him in when he was younger. Was Naminé so desperate that she thought drug dealing was her only way out? It couldn't be, I wanted to let her know that.

"Naminé, it's your only choice—" I got even closer, but in hindsight, I guess I shouldn't have done that.

"Get away!"

She pushed me back into the wooden railing and it gave way and broke. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, as I was falling backwards off the roof, I saw Naminé reach out to me, not meaning to me to fall off. I reach for her hand, but I couldn't grab it, I was helpless as I fell.

My last thoughts were of Terra and Ven.

What would happen to them if I was gone?

Link: That was sad.  
Mars: I didn't think Namine did it on purpose anyway.  
Axel: Namine has it pretty rough, doesn't she?  
Mars: You think?  
Link: By the way, what are you doing with your spare time?  
Mars: Learning music and stitching Axel's face on a shirt.  
Axel: Really?


	4. Part II - Xehanort

**PSA:**  
**This fic is meant to be read with Winter Cabin Conundrum.  
Please read up to and including _Chapter 9_ to understand this chapter.  
ALSO: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS UP TO _CHAPTER 9_, SO IF YOU HAVE NOT READ UP TO THERE, DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER.**

Riku: Well, didn't this take a while?  
Mars: Yeah.  
Axel: The readers kind of need this since Conundrum doesn't say who killed Xehanort in Part II.  
Mars: It's from **Marluxia**'s point of view since it doesn't actually indicate who this is in the fic.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts characters.

Winter Cabin Elucidation  
**Part II – Xehanort**

I was wandering around on the top floor, it was almost time for the first workshop to begin, but I figured I could be a few minutes late. After all, this is my third time on the trip, these workshops end up sounding the same anyway. I looked down the corridor and I found an open door, it was much more elaborate than the other doors on this floor, so I assumed that room is of some importance.

I looked inside and I saw the owner of the cabin, Xehanort with his back to the door. I felt a boiling rage consume me. Just the image of his back reminded me of what he did to me, to Larxene. Sure, our child was conceived as a result of two experimenting teenagers. Sure, we were not ready to take on a burden like that—especially not me after I had decided I was asexual after the event. Still, that gave him no right to take our daughter and conduct those inhuman experiments on her.

I looked to the end table near the door, there was a knife, just lying there. Without thinking, I took the knife and crept up to the old man. Once I got close enough, I smothered his mouth with my free hand and used my other hand to slit his throat. When I released him, he went down silently. It took me a moment to realize the gravity of what I had just done.

I committed cold-blooded murder.

I went pale. Sure, I have done some morally-gray deeds, but none like this. I looked at my clothes, fortunately, no blood was on them. I looked at the knife; I had to hide it somehow. Yes, I could get Larxene to throw it into the pool, the fingerprints and blood would wash away in the chlorine. But for now, I had to hide it in our room, away from Aqua's prying eyes. I sprinted down into the room and hid the knife in my luggage, wrapped in a red towel I had packed myself.

I looked at the time, the workshop was about to start. There was no doubt I would be late. But perhaps no one would figure out that I killed Xehanort. After all, there was no witnesses and no apparent motive.

Axel: Wait...I thought Marluxia was gay.  
Mars: I never said he was, Sora just said he wasn't into girls.  
Riku: Unreliable narrator I guess.


	5. Part III - Roxas (Part 1)

**PSA:  
****This fic is meant to be read with Winter Cabin Conundrum.  
Please read up to and including _Chapter 21_ to understand this chapter.  
ALSO: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS UP TO _CHAPTER 21_, SO IF YOU HAVE NOT READ UP TO THERE, DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER.**

Mars: This took so long and I'm not even done...  
Axel: What have you been doing with you time?  
Mars: Being in a musical, it's hard work.  
Navi: So this chapter is important because it's the end of the third cycle and it sets up the fourth cycle. And it's from **Roxas'** point of view.  
Mars: And I split it into parts because it's so damn long and I felt guilty about not updating in a while.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters.

Winter Cabin Elucidation  
**Part III – Roxas (Part 1)**

I went back up to the fifth floor after I saw Terra carry Riku up the stairs. I would've ran, but after all the running I did trying to distract Terra, I was tired. I may have been in pretty good shape, but even I had my limits. I saw Terra run from the direction of Xehanort's room, and he wasn't being controlled by Vanitas anymore! He didn't have the dead eyes I saw when me and Riku were trying to distract him.

"Terra!" I cried, "You're okay! What happened to Riku?"

"Riku's dead," he said. "I just saw him, and Sora and Vanitas! I think Sora killed Vanitas."

"Did he find out anything?" I asked.

Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, Terra looked more confused than ever. I told Terra the short version of the story, with the murders and the endless time-looping and how Vanitas was the mastermind of it all.

"So, Sora was getting information from him?" He inquired.

"Yeah, so we can end this."

I looked passed Terra and saw Sora coming from around the corner. I was about to call out to him, but something wasn't right. He had a dead look on his face, just like Terra under Vanitas' influence. But he wasn't being controlled by Vanitas, Vanitas was dead! He was carrying a thin, black sword—I think it was called a claymore. I didn't move or say anything since I didn't know what was going on.

"Sora," Terra began. "Roxas told me everything, did you find out anything from Vanitas?"

Sora approached Terra and without a word, he stabbed Terra in the chest! There was something horribly wrong with him, but I didn't know what! So I just ran down the stairs to get away. Two flights down, I ran into Axel.

"Roxas, what's wrong?" He asked quickly.

"Run, it's Sora!" I frantically told him, "He killed Terra!"

He ran after me down the stairs to the second floor, when we got there he asked, "Isn't that a good thing in this situation?"

"No," I panted. "Terra was…back to normal…and Sora…just stabbed him!"

He was speechless at first, but then he said, "Maybe he didn't know he was back to normal."

"He wasn't himself Axel, it was like he was a zombie!"

He still didn't understand, "So Vanitas is controlling him just like he controlled Terra?"

"No, Vanitas is dead!"

I could tell I lost Axel there but I didn't have time to explain, Sora could've been right behind us. I ran down the hall to the room where Ienzo and the girls were.

I banged on the door and shouted, "Let us in! Hurry!"

When Aqua opened the door, I brushed passed her and shut the door after Axel.

"Roxas, what's going on?" She asked.

"It's Sora—something happened!" I told them.

"Is he okay?" Kairi wondered.

I finally calmed down and told them what happened. Aqua was in shock, Ienzo looked like he was confused while Kairi didn't believe any of it.

"There's no way Sora did that!" She said.

"Vanitas did something to him," I urged.

"This could be problematic," Ienzo spoke up. "It may affect Sora in the next cycle, depending on what Vanitas did."

"Do you think that Vanitas possessed Sora?" Aqua suggested, "If he were a ghost then—"

"An ordinary ghost wouldn't be able to take control of Sora like that," he cut her off. "I'll need to go back to the library to find out more."

"I'm sorry, you wanna go back out with the maniacs on the loose?" Axel butted in. "I just narrowly escaped Saïx shooting me in the face, I don't wanna imagine what the rest of them are like."

"If we don't cure Sora in this cycle, we may never be able to save him," Ienzo told him. Everyone went silent, so he continued, "I don't know what this means for the time looping since we don't know what the parameters are."

"What if this was the goal?" Aqua asked, "What if Xehanort lied to Sora? What if this is the last cycle and if we're dead here, we're dead for good?"

Ienzo shook his head, "The goal is for no one to die, including Master Xehanort. If this was his plan, then he would ensure his survival."

That was true. Xehanort wanted Sora, but why? Why him? He was more normal than the rest of us. But was that because he never met him? Was Xehanort the one who planted the dark seed in all of our hearts, then brought us together to finally start growing them? Sora, Riku and Kairi were definitely different than the rest of us, their lives weren't ruined…until now. But of the three of them, why choose Sora?

It wasn't until I finally asked myself that I realized why. Why we were all here, why this was happening to us. It was because of the three of them, Sora was the only one who would be selfless enough to try and save everyone, and he wouldn't give up on any of us. That's why Xehanort chose him, and that's why he's the one who could save us all.

"Sora is our hope," I finally said. No one understood what I meant by that, so I continued, "Even before this, Xehanort has ruined our lives, but there was one thing he could never take away, our hope. And now we're in this mess, and he's taken away our only hope to get out of this, we put our fate in his hands." I looked everyone in the eye, "Now maybe it's time to take our fate in our own hands. Sora can't break the cycles alone, and neither can Xion. I'm going to help them, whatever it takes." I turned to Ienzo and gripped the sword that I was holding in my hand the entire time, "If you need to go to the library, I'll take you there."

"Wait," Kairi, who was quiet the entire time, stood up. "I'm coming too. Sora did this to save me, the least I can do is save him."

"You guys are crazy!" Axel exclaimed, "There's a bunch of crazed murderers out there and you're thinking of going on by yourselves?"

"But we won't be by ourselves," I told him. "You're coming with us, aren't you Axel?"

He took pause before smirking, "I'm that easy to figure out, huh?"

Aqua stood up, "I've dealt with Xehanort before, you'll need my help."

"We'll take whatever you're offering Aqua," Axel said. "God knows we need all the help we can get."

"So it's decided," Ienzo spoke up. "We'll need to hurry, at this rate, we probably won't live to the end of the day."

Mars: Stay tuned, the second part is more than half done and I promise it's worth the wait.  
Axel: It better be.  
Mars: Do you want to die in the next cycle?


	6. Part III - Roxas (Part 2)

**PSA:  
****This fic is meant to be read with Winter Cabin Conundrum.  
Please read up to and including _Chapter 21_ to understand this chapter.  
ALSO: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS UP TO _CHAPTER 21_, SO IF YOU HAVE NOT READ UP TO THERE, DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER.**

Mars: Okay, this one's my fault.  
Axel: It's always your fault, you're the writer.  
Mars: I don't mean real life circumstances, I had this finished a while ago, but I didn't upload it and I forgot about it.  
Navi: Okay, this is a continuation of the last chapter so it's still **Roxas'** point of view.

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters belong to Square Enix.

Winter Cabin Elucidation  
**Part III – Roxas (Part 2)**

It was a scary thought, but I couldn't help but think that Ienzo was right. From what Sora told us, there was probably just one or two killers at a time, but now there's at least three, maybe more. But these are people we go to school with, I never would've imagined any of them being pushed to murder.

But I couldn't worry about that, I had to focus on getting Sora back to normal. Everyone was ready so I opened the door and let them all out first. But before I left, I took a moment to honor the dead.

"Don't worry," I quietly said to them. "We'll make this right."

I went out the door and locked it behind me. I figured from that point on, taking the dead back here won't matter since we're all die anyway. And even if we don't, we'll start all this over after tomorrow. That's when I started to wonder how long it would take for us to end this time looping. According to Sora, this is only our third time through, but what if we don't save him? How long would we be stuck in this cycle, experiencing our deaths and our friends' deaths over and over again?

I had to shake off these thoughts. Right now, I had to be confident, I had to find a way to save Sora. We went up the stairs to the third floor, it was empty and the library was still open. We went inside the library and we were about to go into the library when someone stopped us.

"Where do you think you're going?" Braig shouted from down the hall.

We froze, Braig was unpredictable at this point, so sudden movements could've caused him to shoot. He started to approach us while pointing his firearm at us. I could tell Axel wanted to speak up, just to get Braig away from us. I wanted to stop him, but I couldn't think of a way without getting shot.

"Sora's causing trouble you know," he said.

Braig stopped, "So what?"

"Don't you wanna stop him?"

Without warning, Braig shot Axel in the shoulder where Saïx had already shot him earlier, "That's exactly what you want me to do!" He started walking again, "Tell me where he is and I might just let you live!"

We all knew that wasn't going to happen. We looked at each other, at a loss for what to do. We thought that this is how we would end the cycle here, without figuring out how to save Sora.

That's when we heard someone come from the stairs behind Braig.

He turned around, "There you are!" He started walking toward this new person, "It's time to finish this once and for all!"

I was hoping that it wasn't Sora, that it was Luxord or someone. But who was left?

We heard Braig shoot, his shot being deflected and finally we saw something black go through his body.

Sora practically tossed Braig's body off his sword to the side. He was almost inhuman, just walking toward us with that dead look in his eyes.

Aqua took a martial arts stance, "Get inside."

"Wait," Kairi put her hand on her shoulder to stop her. She stepped forward, "Sora?"

"Kairi, what are you doing?!" I cried. It looked like she was trying to get herself killed.

"He's in there somewhere Roxas," she told me.

"The darkness turned him into a zombie Kairi!" Axel shouted.

She ignored us, "Sora! It's Kairi!"

He stopped.

He actually stopped.

"I know you're in there somewhere," she continued, walking over to him. "The darkness hasn't taken you yet."

It looked like it was working. Maybe we could get Sora back to normal in this cycle and he can tell Xion how to end all this! All hope wasn't lost after all.

Then, in a flash, he sprinted over to Kairi and stabbed her in the chest, she was killed instantly. He laid her down on the ground and took his sword out and started to approach us again.

We had to think fast, one wrong move and he could kill us. Ironically, it was less risky than getting away from Braig.

"Get inside," Aqua said again. "I'll distract him, you find a way to end this."

I was about to stop her, but her plan was the only way we could get away. As she ran toward Sora, I pushed Axel and Ienzo inside the library and closed both doors as quick as I could. When I finished, I felt the weight of what I did.

I left Aqua for dead.

And in that moment, I felt the weight of all the deaths I experienced, maybe even some I couldn't remember. How many times have we died so far? How many times do we have to die before this ends? I slumped to the floor.

"Roxas, what's wrong?" Axel asked.

"I can't take this anymore," I told him. "How many times do we have to go through this? Especially now that Sora's a serial killing zombie?"

"He may not be a zombie for much longer," Ienzo said.

"How do we know? What if there's never—"

"On the contrary," Ienzo interrupted. "What Kairi just did may be the key to saving Sora." He went deeper into the library while still talking, "As foolish as her attempt may have been, it was a good idea."

Axel and I followed him, "What?"

"Trying to get in contact with his heart. Currently, it is shrouded by darkness, but we could clear that darkness."

"Great!" Axel exclaimed, "So how do we do that?"

Ienzo paused for a moment, "I have no idea."

My jaw practically dropped, "What."

"Before this, I didn't think that something like this were possible," he explained. "So I didn't bother reading into it. I suppose now is a good time than any."

"Preferably before Sora comes and kills us," Axel quipped.

"In case you haven't noticed, this is a very rare situation," he started looking through the shelves. "This could take a while, could I ask you two to guard the door so I won't get killed before I find it?"

I looked at Axel, his shoulder was bleeding. I didn't know if he could fight off anyone.

He noticed how worried I was, "I'll be fine Roxas. It's just a scratch."

"Doesn't look like it," I pointed out.

He tried to roll his shoulder, but it hurt too much.

"Alright," he said. "It's as bad as it looks, but someone has to slow down Sora."

He started to head out of the library, but I stopped him, "You're not leaving?!"

"I got a bad shoulder, I can't defend Ienzo like this."

"But you can't!"

I wouldn't know what to do if I saw Axel die. We've been so much together, even if it were only temporary, I wouldn't know what I'd do if he died.

"Roxas," he pulled me out of my thoughts. "This is bigger than us, you have to defend Ienzo until he finds a way to save Sora." He turned to leave, "I'll be seeing you." Then he just left and closed the door behind him.

I must've stared at the door for ten minutes, hoping that he'd come back and we could face this together. But he didn't come, he wasn't going to come. I was on my own now. That was the first time I admitted to myself that I was scared. It might've been the darkness eating at my heart, but I didn't care. We could've all ended up dead for good at the end of this if we did something wrong.

I wondered how Sora was feeling through all of this. Here I was scared for my life in this cycle, Sora remembered all of it. I think the weight of everything helped the darkness eat away at his heart.

"Axel! Roxas!" Ienzo called out.

"I'm here," I ran over to him. "But Axel went…"

"Okay," he said after I got quiet.

We were silent for a while. I tried to think about something else, anything else. But it wasn't any use, all I could think about was how hopeless the situation was.

"Roxas," Ienzo spoke up. "What if we were looking in the wrong place?"

My face went pale, "What."

"A thought occurred to me, would Xehanort have the foresight to remove all books regarding this matter from the library?"

He had a point. Xehanort was a smart man, he wouldn't keep his plans in the library out in the open. He would keep them locked up in…

"His room!" I realized. "If this was his plan, he'd keep the material up in his room!"

"That's where we need to go," Ienzo said. "What we're looking for has to be there, I can almost smell it."

"What're we waiting for?" I was about to run out when he stopped me.

"Wait," he picked up a book. "I'll make sure we can get there."

He cast some sort of spell. It must've been some kind of foresight spell, I wondered why he didn't use it before. I understood why after he was done, he nearly passed out.

"We need to hurry," he panted. "Sora is about to corner Axel in the dining room."

Without thinking, I helped Ienzo onto his feet and out of the library. We went up as quickly as we could to the top floor. We were able to get into Xehanort's room without getting interrupted. Inside were Riku, Vanitas and Xehanort's bodies. As much as I wanted to get rid of them, I had to lock the door behind me so Sora couldn't get in.

Ienzo went to a huge bookcase, "Now we can get somewhere." He looked though some books for a few minutes when his face lit up, "I found it."

"How to cure Sora?" I asked.

"The book we need, I can find the answer here."

Suddenly, someone started to pound at the door.

Sora was here.

"Hurry up Ienzo!" I got ready to fight. "Tell me what I need to know before Sora kills me!"

He frantically looked through the pages and the pounding at the door got louder. My heart started racing. I was going to die, there was no doubt about that, but I need the information to take with me to the next cycle. I was ready to remember whatever Ienzo was about to tell me.

"I found it," he said. "We'll need the whole cycle to do it though."

_Whole cycle._

"His heart will have to be opened up and exposed to light, figuratively, of course."

_Opened and exposed to light._ So that meant _Kairi_.

"He'll have to die immediately so the corruption won't affect him."

_Kill him so the corruption won't affect him._ Wait…what does that mean?

I couldn't ask because Sora burst in through the door and came at me with his sword. I fended him off as best as I could, but I couldn't concentrate on fighting him. I had to concentrate on remembering the key words.

_Whole cycle. Opened and exposed to light. Kairi. Kill him so the corruption won't affect him._

I managed to cut him on the hand and I let my guard down.

_Whole cycle. _

That's when he recovered and stabbed me in the chest.

_Opened and exposed to light. _

He pulled his sword out.

_Kairi. _

I fell onto my back.

_Kill him so the corruption won't affect him._

He stood over me and my mind went blank except for one word.

_Kairi._

The last thing I saw was his sword coming down on my face.

Mars: Ienzo dies soon after.  
Axel: What a surprise.  
Mars: Anyway, since you're reading this, I might as well tell you that the next chapter to Conundrum will be going up soon.  
Axel: Really?  
Mars: It's complete and ready to go live.


End file.
